Security details benefit agencies, BP, officials say

Raymond LegendreStaff Writer

Saturday

Aug 21, 2010 at 12:01 AM

THIBODAUX — Since cleanup began on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in late April, off-duty officers have played significant roles securing equipment and boom, maintaining order at claims offices and patrolling local waterways for the organization blamed for the disaster.Officers in Lafourche and Terrebonne have worked thousands of hours and earned thousands of dollars on these off-duty details, and, in the process, earned a small sum for the agencies they represent. It’s no different than if they worked off-duty security at local restaurants, for instance, officials said. What is different, though, is BP is an international oil giant facing lawsuits in each parish, filed by local district attorneys on behalf of the state. But that, in and of itself, does not constitute an ethical concern, said John Kleinig, director of the Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.“BP is paying for a service, not paying to keep them quiet,” he said, noting the business relationship might be interpreted differently if local agencies, rather than federal ones, were investigating the spill.Having local officers working details gives the community the sense that everything is under control and acts as a deterrent to anyone considering committing a crime during the cleanup process, said Dan McCoy, BP’s security chief for the Houma Incident Command center.The details have not changed how the departments police their areas, officials said, because the officers working them are off-duty.Resources could have become a concern, however, had the necessity for details not slowed in recent days, Terrebonne Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois said. As focus on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill transitions from cleanup to recovery, the number of local officers working security details for BP will continue to shrink accordingly.Bourgeois said he views the BP details the same way he would any other detail.“We’re there to make everybody safe,” he said. In the absence of officers working the details, there could potentially be a situation like in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where private contractors created an air of disorder, he said.Terrebonne deputies collect $22 per hour on land at BP sites on La. 311 and La. 56, and $50 per hour on the water. The cost for water patrols also includes a $50 hourly fee for boats, a sum used to cover maintenance costs.Land details include a $2-per-hour administrative fee. The number of land hours worked by deputies was not included in information provided by the Terrebonne Sheriff’s Office. About 50 Terrebonne deputies have worked at five different BP sites across the parish, officials said. An off-duty deputy’s June 16 traffic stop of a biologist shooting video of BP’s Houma offices raised concerns, but Bourgeois said he has not received any complaints of separate instances of alleged wrongdoing by deputies working details. Biologist Drew Wheelan was at BP headquarters on La. 311 after trying to ask the company to halt its use of a chemical dispersant to deal with the Gulf oil spill. The deputy’s wording was wrong, Bourgeois said, noting the problem was corrected.Lafourche Sheriff Craig Webre called his deputies’ participation in security details for BP “absolutely appropriate, legal, ethical and necessary.” To not have deputies working in conjunction with BP would be irresponsible and potentially create public-safety issues, he said.From May 18 to July 18, about 90 Lafourche deputies logged 8,175 man hours at a cost of $266,527 to BP, sheriff’s officials said. On Aug. 4, for instance, the Lafourche Sheriff’s Office had seven deputies working at Port Fourchon and two at BP-related sites.Deputies received overtime for assignments at Port Fourchon, meaning no administrative fee was applied for their services. The agency received $2 for every hour deputies worked at the BP claims center in Galliano or Danos and Curole, the only two details where Lafourche deputies are paid a flat $30-per-hour fee. That cost represented an administrative fee charged for all details deputies worked for profit companies. The total number of hours worked at the BP claims center and Danos and Curole was not provided.Off-duty Houma Police officers have worked security for the BP Claims Operation Office, 814 Grand Caillou Road. The officers are available to work seven days per week at a $25-per-hour rate. No money earned on details goes back to the Houma Police Department.Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis said Houma officers “haven’t had any problems” associated with the BP details, Duplantis said. State Police troopers have worked details for BP, Master Trooper Bryan Zeringue said, but he did not provide specific numbers. Thibodaux Police has not had any officers work details for BP, detective Joey Quinn said.

Staff Writer Raymond Legendre can be reached at 448-7617 or raymond.legendre@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @cometcrime.

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